Shattered Rose
by Fennec the Fox
Summary: He cast a glance to the crystal shard in his hand. He never would have guessed such a small piece of rock could end up being so important to him. [A retelling of Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal.]
1. Lyric

**Hey, strangers. I've had an idea for a rewrite of Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for a while, but I put off doing it due to trying to motivate myself to finish my other story. You can probably guess how that's going (badly). Here's hoping I'll keep motivation to finish this story and the other one.**

 **Just one quick note before we start, though: this story ONLY focuses on Shattered Crystal. While reading this, I ask that you forget everything and anything involving Rise of Lyric as the story has nothing to do with that game.**

 **Okay, on with the story.**

-Late Afternoon - Ancient Ruins - Third Person POV-

The sun blazed brightly in the western sky, casting long shadows across the quiet ruins. The only sound was the sound of footsteps against the mossy stepping stones that once paved a road in an ancient city. A small, pink hedgehog girl made her way through the remnants of the long abandoned metropolis. She stared in wonder at the carvings in the still-standing walls. even if this place was past it's glory days, the ruins still amazed her.

Oh, how the girl wished she could've seen this place back in the times of "The Ancients." She knew it had to have been a glorious sight. After all, if her research was correct, this was once the city The Ancients resided in.

The hedgehog did her best to contain her excitement at the thought. So little was actually known about "The Ancients," no one even knew for sure what they truly called themselves.

"Maybe I'll finally be able to find some answers!" the girl murmured to herself, taking out a gold tablet-esque device. She opened it up, pulled up her research notes, and began to study the many glyphs on the walls- though many were weathered and hard to read. Eventually the girl came upon what looked to be the remnants of an arcade, which was surprisingly well preserved compared to the rest of the ruins.

"Amazing! There's hardly a scratch on these arches!" the hedgehog exclaimed, resting her hand on one of the symbols carved into the wall. "And these ancient glyphs are still legible!"

She came to a stop, focusing on one glyph in particular. She took a quick glance at her notes before directing her eyes to the symbol again. "One keeps coming up. It seems to translate to… Lyric?"

"Am I so easily forgotten?" a low, monotone voice questioned from behind the hedgehog. The girl stifled a surprised yelp, but couldn't stop herself from shuddering slightly from the mysterious voice.

Whirling around, the hedgehog found herself face-to-face with a large, green snake. His body was encased in a red and silver robotic casing.

Feeling threatened, the hedgehog tossed aside her tablet and whipped out a pink and gold hammer. She held it above her head, ready to strike at any moment.

"W-who are you?" the hedgehog questioned, her voice taut. while she tried to look confident, she was rather shaken by the sudden appearance of the snake. " _ **What**_ are you?!"

At this, a look of realization flashed in the snake's eyes before his expression turned cold. He looked angry, perhaps even disappointed. "Pah! I am _**Lyric**_ -" he stressed his name, asif hoping to trigger something in the hedgehog's memory. Or perhaps he merely wanted his name to be remembered. "-Timeless overlord of this world! This time you will help me in my conquest!"

The snake lashed a claw-hand at the girl, which was swiftly blocked by her hammer. He immediately drew back and whipped his tail at her. This time she jumped out of the way, causing the clawed tail to embed itself slightly into the wall.

Once she had landed, the girl whirled around, her eyes bared an angry, fiery glare, "Back off, Lyric!" she shouted, her tone carrying the same fiery tone as her eyes.

The snake chuckled darkly as he yanked his tail-claw out of the wall. "You? You're telling _ME_ to back off? That's rich, dear, seeing as it is YOU who is trespassing on my land." He cast a sickly smile towards her, " _ **YOU'RE**_ the one who needs to back off."

A wave of confusion washed over the hedgehog. "Your land? You can't possibly own this place, it's been abandoned for centuries!"

"Ah, but it hasn't. I've been here all these years. These many, many years. Waiting for the time when I would awaken."

"Awaken? You've been sleeping this whole time?"

"And what if I was? It doesn't change the fact that you are an unwanted pest that needs to be _**ELIMINATED!**_ " Lyric shouted, swinging his tail at the hedgehog once again- this time more violently.

The girl narrowly dodged the attack by gracefully jumping over the claw. Not even a second after she hit the ground she dashed towards Lyric. She leapt into the air and swung her hammer full force at the glass dome on Lyric's suit.

 _ **THUNK.**_

" _GRAH!_ "

The force of the hammer swing knocked the snake into the ground. while she had aimed for the dome, it seemed girl had hit the surrounding casing of the suit instead. Regardless, the blow seemed to do its job as the snake laid motionless before her.

The hedgehog let out a shaky sigh of relief as she put her hammer away. She wrapped her arms around her, trying to collect herself. She glanced around her surroundings and noticed her tablet laid undisturbed from when she tossed it away earlier. Maybe she should call someone? Yes, talking to someone would surely help her calm down.

She hastily ran to the tablet and scooped it into her hands. She pressed a button on the side and a menu opened. She selected the name "Sonic" and waited for an answer. The girl didn't have to wait long, however, as a blue hedgehog appeared on the screen almost immediately after she hit the call button.

"Hey, Amy. What's up?" the hedgehog- Sonic- asked, a confident expression etched into his face.

"Fighting for my life with the fate of the world in the balance," the hedgehog- Amy- responded, trying not to sound shaken up. "You, know, the usual."

Sonic smirked at the comment, but the smirk was soon replaced by a look of confusion. "Hey, who's _that?_ "

A silent gasp escaped Amy's lips as she turned to see Lyric towering over her. He glowered down at the girl and swatted the tablet out of her hands. Amy reached for her hammer to counterattack, but Lyric struck her head. She let out a cry of pain before collapsing to the ground unconscious. Lyric picked her up with his tail-claw, inspecting her face. He hummed in thought as he got a better look at the girl.

"Amy?!" a panicked yell interrupted the snake's train of thought.

Lyric huffed and slithered over to the tablet. The video feed was now staticy due to the abuse it had put up with, but Lyric could still make out the image of a blue hedgehog on the screen. He scowled at the sight.

"Who are you?" Sonic demanded, it was clear that he was infuriated with Lyric right now.

Lyric's scowl twisted into a sneer, he could have some fun with this. "You may call me Lyric, or 'master'. Honestly, once I rebuild my army and my empire, I don't care what you call me."

With that, Lyric left the scene with Amy in tow. Sonic yelled through the damaged tablet at the snake, demanding he let Amy. His demands went unheard, however, as the snake had long since left for his hideaway. Soon the damages to the tablet were too much and the screen faded to it's normal transparent blue.

And once again the ruins were silent.

 **End of chapter one. I was going to write more, but I wanted to see about getting some feedback before I continued. So please, if you want to see more, leave a review. I won't know if people like it enough to continue if you don't give me feedback.**

 **Any questions you may have regarding Lyric and the "crystal of power" will likely be answered in the next chapter.**

 **Until then.**


	2. Rose Crystal

**M'kay, I didn't get any feedback from the last chapter, but I'm gonna continue for as long as possible regardless.**

 **This chapter's very, VERY dialogue heavy and there's also a lengthy Author's Note at the end explaining some stuff, so be prepared for that.**

 **OH! One more thing, remember last chapter I told you in another note Rise of Lyric had absolutely nothing to do with this story? That's only mostly true. The Chaos Crystals are going to be important and there's a possibility I could borrow other elements from it, but for the most part, it's story is irrelevant to this.**

 **That's all. Onto the story!**

-Unknown Time - Unknown Location - Amy's POV-

My head ached, it felt like it'd been split open. Gingerly, I reached a hand to the side of my head. I let out a hiss of pain, immediately retracting my hand. There was definitely a "lovely" bump there, and touching it helped _**nothing.**_ I finally opened my eyes just enough to get a look at my hand. No blood, thankfully. My head was still throbbing, though.

I tried to push myself off the ground, but the pounding in my head made it difficult. It was only then that I really took in my surroundings.

"Where _am_ I?" I wondered aloud.

I couldn't see much, but I could tell at the very least I'd been trapped inside some sort of capsule. Or was it a giant hamster ball? It was round enough to be one. Past that, there was a computer console next to the capsule and I could make out a door on the other side of the room. The blue tint of the capsule glass and this horrible headache of mine made it too difficult to scope out any other details.

"Well, well, it seems you have finally awaken."

That voice! I felt a sickly chill sweep over me as soon as I'd heard it. I whipped my head around to face it. Bad idea. The sudden movement made me want to vomit. The sight of the slimey reptile's face didn't help much either.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were even still alive," Lyric remarked in a mocking tone. He slithered closer to to the pod, "It's a shame. I was hoping you weren't."

"What do you want with me?" I hissed, trying to push aside the pain.

Lyric stared intensely at me, almost like he was searching my face for something. He soon turned away from me, uttering a growl. He started muttering something I couldn't understand. He turned back to face me, staring again. This time he almost looked… sorrowful.

"Tell me, girl, what do you of those ruins? What do you know of the Crystalli?" he practically begged for the information, but his face remained cold.

I cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "C-Crystalli? Who- or what- is that?"

"THE RUINS!" he bellowed, " THOSE RUINS WERE A GREAT CITY LAST I WAS HERE! The capital… the council…"

Lyric was slithering in circles in front of my capsule now. As if trying to figure out the meaning behind his own words.

"You look just like _**her**_ ," Lyric hissed the last word as if the word had made him ill.

"Who?"

" _ **Amata…**_ " he sneered as the name crossed his lips. Whoever this woman was, Lyric clearly held an intense hatred for her. And I, apparently, look just like her.

I'm just full of good luck today, huh?

"What did she do?" I inquired, but I was afraid of the kind of response I'd get.

"That is none of your concern. Besides, I'm the one asking questions here. So tell me: what do you know about those ruins?"

I huffed at his response, but he had a point. I was the one trapped here, and with this awful throbbing pain in my head I couldn't very well fight back. Perhaps I should play along for now…

"My research tells me that it was once a great city. It was said to be the home of 'The Ancients' and the place where The Ancients kept the legendary 'Chaos Crystals.' It's been theorized that the city was destroyed in a war over the crystals. It's been in ruin for centuries, possibly even a millennium."

Lyric tsked at this information, his tail flicking in annoyance. "So… it's been that long, has it?" the snake mused as he assessed the room we were in.

"You keep, using that term, 'Ancients', do you really not know our true name?" I slowly shook my head, my full attention on him in hopes I'd learn more information.

"We are- we WERE known as the Crystalli. We were the most advanced and diverse tribe on the planet at the time. We used energy crystals to power our machines- that's how we got our name."

Lyric's expression grew distant. He had a nostalgic look in his eyes as he recalled those days. I almost felt bad for him, but the sting of pain on my head kept me from feeling TOO sorry.

"So… you're telling me that you're from an ancient tribe that's said to have been slaughtered a thousand years ago?"

The look of nostalgia on lyric's face violently twisted into that of a pure rage, "THOSE FOOLS BETRAYED ME!" he roared. "The Council tasked me with studying the crystals, learning how to harness their power… NOW LOOK AT ME!" Lyric raised a claw in front of my capsule, it was shaking slightly. "Because of THEM, I fell left me to rot as soon as they saw just how terrible my illness was."

I studied his face. It was clear to me that he believed every word he said. I only ever heard good things about The Ancients- or, I suppose they were "The Council", I couldn't believe they'd ever do such a thing on purpose.

Then again, I wasn't there…

But should I really trust the guy that clobbered me with a metal claw?

Yes, I am still very bitter about that.

No, I will not be letting that go anytime soon.

"Maybe they didn't know the crystals would be that -"

"DIDN'T KNOW?!" his bellowing voice cut me off, "Only a complete FOOL would think such a thing!" Lyric suddenly turned, tapping one of his claws against his glass dome in thought. "Thinking on it now, I bet Condil came up with that idea. He never thought things through…"

I wanted to ask more about the subject of the Chaos Crystals and the Crystalli, but Lyric turned his attention away from me completely ignoring me. He was pushing buttons on the console, mumbling to himself some more. I bet he's making bitter comments about that "Condil" guy.

"You never answered my question, you know," I noted. He didn't respond. He didn't even acknowledge I'd spoken.

"What _**do**_ you want with me?"

Lyric sighed heavily, he sounded irritated. "I had hoped, at first, it'd only been a couple years. I had hoped you really were Amata, but now I see that is impossible."

"And if I was Amata? What then?"

Lyric turned to me, deadpan expression on his face, "I'd make you and the rest of those wretched Council members succumb to the same fate as me- exposure to the Chaos Crystals. Only I wouldn't let Iseric give you all the luxury of having a robot suit like me." Lyric's sickly sneer returned, "Just you five, stuck in a room with the crystal's radiation slowly and painfully killing you."

The snake faced the console once more, "That's one possibility, anyway. I've thought of other ways for you to suffer. If you were Amata, that is."

"And what will you do with me now? I'm not Amata, so punishing me wouldn't do anything for you."

"Oh, no, I'm sure I'd still feel some form of closure from making you suffer. You and her look very similar, you see. But don't worry, I've got something different in mind for you."

Lyric sent one last evil smirk before pressing one of the buttons on his console. Suddenly, my capsule lit up and a machine beneath it roared to life. The floor began to glow, and I found myself levitating inside the sphere.

My heart pounded in my chest and my breathing quickened. What was he going to do to me?! I let out a whimper as I tried to get myself grounded again. My struggling was fruitless, however. It wasn't long until I was floating vertically in the pod. My head was tilted upwards, forcing me to look into a blinding white light. I tried to crane my neck down to face Lyric so I could yell at him properly, but my voice got caught in my throat. I was frozen in this position- my arms hung uselessly at my sides. It felt like they were made of lead.

I could hear Lyric cackling down by his console. I wanted to scream at him, but my voice continued to betray me. I heard the sound of another button being pushed. The already bright light somehow got brighter and completely enveloped me in it's light.

A white Light.

Then a flash of Pink.

And finally, a blackout.

-Evening - Crystalli Catacombs - Lyric's POV-

Pride swelled in my chest as I watched the brat get drowned in the light from my machine. It almost distracted me from my illness burning a hole in through my skin.

Almost.

I'd need the others to achieve complete catharsis. If only there were other look-alikes in this time.

Wait…

That blue hedgehog "Amata" was speaking to…

He looked like _ **him.**_

"Perhaps this wouldn't be as difficult as I thought it would be," I mused as the machine powered down and the light dimmed.

I slithered in front of the sphere, admiring my work. Suspended inside the sphere was a large, pink-colored crystal that was once known as "Amata."

Or… whatever the brat's name was. Annie? Bah, I don't care. It matters not to me now.

I opened the pod and took the crystal from inside. She emitted a low, harmonic hum and was surrounded in a gentle glow. She- despite being a crystal now- somehow reminded me so much of the real Amata's personality.

It made me _sick_.

I laid her in a compartment in another console on the other side of the chamber. I began to analyse her power levels as I had with countless crystals back when I was a council member.

I grimaced as the burning sensation intensified at this thought. I shouldn't have trusted them. I should've known better. I knew the Chaos Crystals had great power, I knew deep down something like this would happen.

" _It will be okay, Lyric."_

I fliched at the memory echoing in my head. That stupid indigo urchin's face suddenly came to mind.

" _I trust your abilities. If anyone can handle these crystals, it's you."_

"Liar," I growled, "you knew just as well as I did these crystals were dangerous. And yet you talked me into this."

"Curse your silver tongue, Nitus."

The analysis on Annie was soon completed. She seems to have power levels akin to the crystals my people used to power airships and large mechs. Although, the form was unstable. Her levels were constantly fluctuating and the crystal itself was very fragile. Perhaps the machine needed more work before I could turn living organisms into fully-functioning energy crystals. Still, this was a successful test. I just needed to make some adjustments is all. Then I'd need another test subject...

Glancing to the opposite side of the console, I saw the tablet Annie was using to communicate earlier. I thought back to the blue hedgehog I saw her speak to on it earlier. _He looked just like Nitus._ Annie looked a lot like Amata- acted similar to her too. So if that hedgehog friend of hers and Nitus look the same…

Then he'd likely act the same if she was in danger.

I gazed deep into the crystal again. If "Nitus" was anything like I knew the real Nitus to be, he'd do anything for his "friends." _ESPECIALLY_ if it was Amata. So with that being the case…

My grip on the crystal became tighter and tighter, causing her to crack. Large pieces of the crystal broke apart, hitting the floor and then shattering into smaller crystal shards. I gathered them up and placed them inside a container I found near the console. I removed a memory chip from the crystallization machine, I wouldn't want to lose all my hard work after all.

Of course, this means I'll have to rebuild the thing- I need more time to work on this, but there's no way I can finish before that blasted urchin found me. I'll have to relocate and rebuild.

"It will be worth it in the end," I told myself.

"Soon, I'll be able to get energy crystals without having to mine for them. Not only that, I'll be able to power my robots while eliminating all the selfish scum that walks the earth! But first…"

I placed one of Annie's shards on top of her tablet, "I'll have to get rid of that repulsive rodent."

I took one last glance at the crystallization machine, sizing it up and questioning if I could possibly take it with me. I dismissed the idea soon after, however, I was wasting too much time here. Without another thought, I charged up a blast from my tail-claw and shot the machine. Once I saw it was a pile of smoking scrap, I turned and swiftly slithered out of the chamber I sealed in so many years ago.

This was it. I was finally free from this prison.

As I passed the various tombs lining the halls, all I could think was one thing: soon- after a thousand years- there'd be a new body to bury.

 **Ew, first person narratives. I don't really like doing them to be honest. You gotta know a lot about a character and how they talk/think to pull it off well. Thus I don't like to do them, but thought I'd give it a try. Practice makes perfect right? ...Right?**

 **Also, if you're wondering how Amy's head wasn't bleeding from the impact of that hit from Lyric, cartoon and anime characters can take a lot of abuse. Don't think about it too hard.**

 **Also, for those who aren't familiar with the term, catacombs are basically underground graveyards, so it stands to reason that there'd be other beings buried under there with Lyric. The Crystalli Council (or Ancients as canon media calls them) didn't think he'd ever awaken, so they just sealed him with the dead. Not very nice of them. Lyric also seems to be indecisive in whether he wants to turn Sonic into a crystal, or just kill him. (Okay, in truth the "new body to bury" thing was just for dramatic effect. Don't read too deep into it.)**

 **Oh, yeah, "Crystalli." I kinda hate myself for that name, but I wasn't creative enough to come up with something else. The names of the Council members aren't that creative either, mind you. I just went to google translate, took words that related to the Boom Crew's names and translated them to Latin. I then took certain parts of the words and made them into names.**

 **Sonic relates to "sound." When you translate "noise" you get "sonitus." Thus, Sonic's Council member counterpart's name is "Nitus."**

 **Amy means "beloved." Put "beloved" into google, you get "amatus" as a result (but not the first one). Therefore, Amata.**

" **Condil" is the result of running "knuckle" through google and getting "condilus" as a result (but, again, not the first one).**

 **Tails' counterpart is "Iseric." His name comes from "mercy" because the name "Miles" means "merciful." This one's a little difficult to see, because the first result you get is really long. You get "misericordia," so you gotta look in the middle of the word for this one.**

 **Sticks' counterpart name is different from the others. Rather than looking up "stick" to follow the trend of the other character's naming process, I named her after her ability to somehow always know what will happen- even if it sounds ridiculous. Her name stems from "seer" or "soothsayer" which ends up being "videns." Knock off the "s" and you've got Sticks' counterpart name.**

 **If you want to know how I pronounce their names, here's my pronunciations:**

 **Nitus [nee-TOOS], Iseric [ee-SER-ick], Condil [con-DEEL], Amata [ah-MAH-tah], and Viden [vee-DEN].**

 **You can say them however you want, but this is the technically correct way to say it.**

 **And at this point, I've forgotten if I had anything else to say. So, I'll see ya next chapter! If I forgot to say anything, I'll mention it there. If something plot-wise doesn't make sense, it'll likely be cleared up in the future. Just be patient, please.**


	3. Searching

**Sorry for the wait, guys. I lost all motivation and confidence for all creative mediums, so it took a while to get this one out. I also am making this story up as I go, so I have to figure out plot points as well.**

 **There's a weird continuity error in this story that I discovered recently. In chapter one Lyric seems to know and acknowledge the fact that it's been centuries that he's been "gone," and yet in chapter two he doesn't seem to know it's been that long. I suppose I could get away with saying he was in denial, but I still think it's weird and there's a chance I'll tweak the chapters in the future. This is what happens when you make up stories as you go- you get weird errors like this.**

 **Lastly I just wanna thank those who left reviews, faved, or followed this story. I really appreciate it, thank you.**

 **That's about it from me this time. Onto chapter three!**

-Late Afternoon - Beachside - Sonic's POV-

I was chilling on the beach when it happened. The gang and I had thwarted Eggman's plans early that day, so I had been napping through most of it. I think that was the biggest mistake I'd made in months. I should've gone with her. But, no. I didn't feel like mucking around in any old ruins today, so I just went back home. And now…

Now I'm standing outside my shack, staring down at my tablet in complete disbelief. Through the static I could just make out some old pillars and treetops, but the snake had slithered off already.

And he took her with him…

"Amy…" I muttered.

I shook my head, trying to clear it of the shock. I needed to think straight if I wanted to get Amy back. That snake must've been pretty tough and/or cleaver if he was able to take Amy down so easily. Or maybe it was just because she was distracted from talking to me? Whatever the reason, I'd need some backup.

"I gotta get Tails and the gang," I mumbled to myself. I let out a growl, slamming the tablet closed. "Oh, Lyric, you are _**SO**_ gonna get the big beat-down!"

I dashed towards the village without another thought. I just hoped Tails would be at his workshop like always…

-Late Afternoon - Tails' Workshop - Sonic's POV-

I arrived at Tails' place within seconds of leaving my shack. I saw that the lights were on in the workshop, so I checked in there first.

Seeing as it was an urgent matter, I just bursted through the door rather than knocking first. That may have been a mistake though, since Tails was working on something and threw the tool he was holding- I think it was a spanner- across the room in surprise. I'm making a lot of bad decisions today it seems.

Tails spun around to face my direction, hand resting on his chest. His fur stood on end and his eyes looked HUGE. Not that I can blame the poor kid, he always hated loud, sudden noises and I wasn't exactly being quiet.

"SONIC!" he shrieked, "What have I told you about barging in here?!"

"Sorry, bud," I gave him an apologetic glance before taking out the tablet I was talking to Amy on earlier. "But it's kinda- very important."

Tails gave a confused look to the tablet, then shifted his eyes to me. "What happened?"

I told Tails everything I knew about the situation. From Amy researching in some ancient ruins to the sudden appearance of the snake calling himself "Lyric." And, of course, I told him about the fact that said snake had taken Amy.

I didn't know much, so the explaining took well under two minutes.

"Oh no… this terrible…" Tails responded quietly. His gaze was fixed to the floor. It was clear to me that this was a lot for him to take in. Amy would get herself into sticky situations, and she might have gotten captured by eggman once or twice in the past, but this time some stranger had her in his scaley grasp. We don't even know what he wants with her.

To be honest, it was a lot for me to take in too.

I couldn't let that get me down though, I had to keep spirits high while Amy was away- since that was normally her job. I walked to Tails' side, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"We'll get her back buddy. We'll kick that snake's tail and make him regret ever crossing The Boom Crew!" I exclaimed throwing my arm dramatically in the air.

Tails looked up at me, a small, unsure smile on his face. I could tell he was still shaken by the news, but at least my dumb little act had cheered him up a bit.

"But I'm gonna need your help to do it," I stated, handing him the tablet. "I need you to use your technological know-how to find her. Can ya do it?" I asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

Sure enough, a confident smirk spread across his face as he took the tablet in his hands, "Gimme a couple hours and I can tell you what she had for breakfast last September!"

I let out a chuckle at that remark, "I have a lot of confidence in your abilities, buddy, but I don't think that's possible."

"You know what I mean," he responded, laughing as well.

Tails opened up his laptop and my tablet, using the former to do some rough translations on the text that appeared on the latter. I was curious to see how he'd figure out where Amy had gone, seeing as the tablets were some of the only tech salvaged from the time of the ancients. At least, that's what Amy told me.

Looking over his shoulder, I saw that Tails had activated some other function on the tablet. I couldn't really make out what it was showing and judging by Tails' face, I wasn't sure if he understood either.

"So, uh… what are ya doing?" I asked.

"The ancient people who made these tablets installed their own form of GPS into their them. It's still crude compared to what we have today, but it's pretty advanced considering the time period," Tails explained. He pointed to a light blue circle on the screen, "You see this ring here? That's us." He adjusted the screen so it was showing more of the island, "And this pink ring here is Amy."

I nodded in understanding. Looking to the left side of the screen, I saw five colored dots- blue, yellow, pink, red, and green- lined up vertically. The blue and pink ones glowed brightly, but the three other dots weren't as brightly lit as the blue and pink ones. I pointed at them, "What are those dots?"

Tails tapped each dot. The blue one zoomed in on our location and the pink one zoomed in on Amy's location. The other three did nothing.

"I guess there are- WERE three other tablets connected to this one and Amy's back then. Now it seems that they're offline."

I hummed in thought at this discovery. It all sounded strangely familiar, but I couldn't quite place HOW it felt familiar. I waved off the notion, it wasn't important now. We got the info we needed, that's all that mattered.

"Come on," I said, dashing to the door, "We better get going before that snake relocates."

Tails gave a short, sharp nod. "Okay, let me get a few things first, though!" he exclaimed, dashing across the workshop. He gathered up what looked like a tiny submarine and some bombs. He stuffed them into his pouch- somehow- and joined me at the door.

"Never know when you'll need a little firepower!" he stated proudly.

I considered questioning how he managed to fit who knows how many bombs and a small submarine into that small pouch on his belt, but that was like asking Amy where she kept her hammer. The two of us left the workshop and headed in the direction the tablet told us to go: the forest.

Maybe we'll pick up some help along the way…

-Twilight - Deep in the Forest - Tails' POV-

Sonic and I were making some pretty good time traversing through the forest, but I knew that it wouldn't be long before the sunlight faded completely. I wondered if we'd have to stop for the night. I hope not. I didn't want Amy to be in danger any longer than she had to be.

Sonic had mentioned getting some help from Sticks earlier. I was all for this idea, seeing as we didn't know who this snake is or how strong he is. We need all the help we can get!

"Of course, you're gonna be the one to tell her," Sonic stated, running slightly ahead of me.

"Tell who what now?"

"Sticks. You're gonna have ta tell her about Amy being kidnapped."

"WHA-?!" I yelled in shock. My tails- which were helping me fly at the time- suddenly stopped working and I face-planted into the ground. I forced myself upright shortly after. "Why do _**I**_ have to tell her?! You're the one who told me about it!"

Sonic stopped running shortly after my fall, giving me a small shrug before crossing his arms with a smug grin. "Exactly! I already told you, now it's your turn to tell Sticks!"

"That's no fair!"

"How? This way we all break the bad news to each other! Amy to me, me to you, you to Sticks, and Sticks to Knuckles!"

"Oh yeah? Then who does Knuckles break it to?" I retorted, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"Now, now Tails, we don't have time for these silly questions. We're wasting precious daylight!"

I glanced up, the full moon was very obviously hanging over us now. I really wanted to make some kind of witty comment about it being night now, but I knew he had a point. I twirled my tails to get myself flying again.

"Fine, I'll tell Sticks. Let's just get to her burrow quickly."

Sonic gave no arguments to this remark and we both bolted off full speed to Sticks' burrow.

It wasn't too long, though, before I heard a rustling in the bushes behind me. I lowered myself down and approached them cautiously.

"Sticks?" I questioned quietly. We weren't far from her burrow now, so it was possible she was lurking around. I didn't expect her to be out at this time of night, though. Apparently I'd caught Sonic's attention as well, as he was standing beside me. Though something in his posture told me it wasn't Sticks in the bushes.

 _ **Whrrrr...**_

 _ **BZZT!**_

I felt a strong hand grab my shoulder and pull me away from the bushes, mere seconds before an energy beam shot out from them. I gave a grateful nod to Sonic, who had pulled me out of harm's way. A large red robot lumbered out into the clearing. At first I thought it to be one of Eggman's robots, but then I noticed how different it was. It had one large, lime green eye, and the thing as a whole looked a lot more menacing. Eggman's robots looked more like bugs or animals most of the time, but this thing… it was something else.

Soon enough more robots poured out from the surrounding bushes and trees, not a single one resembling something Eggman would make. I looked to Sonic and saw him crouched in a fighting position- his face bore a confident grin.

"This could be fun! Whaddaya say, Tails? A quick battle before we find Sticks?"

"You bet!" I exclaimed in response, taking some of the bombs I brought with me out of my pouch.

Truthfully I was a little nervous. We'd never encountered these robots before, we didn't know what to expect. Not only that, but there were at least ten surrounding us in the immediate area- there could be even more lurking in the shadows. Despite all that, Sonic stood just as confident as ever. If he felt we could take them on, I _KNEW_ we could.

The robots began to open fire- shooting green beams of energy at us. Sonic easily ran out of the line of fire while I flew up towards the treetops to escape their attacks. Once above, I could see that there were, in fact, more robots in the area. Lots more. I didn't bother getting an exact count, but it looked like there were about thirty of them. My confidence wavered slightly, but I shook off the feeling quickly. The battle just started, I can't give up now!

I began to barrage the robots with my bombs from above while Sonic did his signature spindash down below. The robots, despite looking a bit old, were rather durable as it took a few bombs and spindashes before they were knocked down. It took some time, but we were making a dent in their forces. Eventually, I ran out of bombs. I should've know those wouldn't last! Cursing my poor planning, I carefully lowered myself back to the ground.

There were plenty of robot parts scattered on the ground at this point, so I figured I'd be able to find something else to use as a temporary weapon until I could build something new for myself. As I rummaged through a pile of robot parts, a bright, pink energy beam blasted the pile.

"AHH!" I yelped, shielding my face from both the brightness of the blast and the shrapnel sent into the air by said blast.

I looked around for the source and quickly discovered another robot. This one was about twice the size of the others with a large pink eye rather than the green ones the others had. I sat in shock as the robot towered over me, charging another blast. I knew I had to run, but there was something about the robot's eye that caught my attention…

"TAILS! LOOK OUT!"

I felt a strong force knock me out of the way just before the blast hit it's mark. I didn't even need to look to see what had hit me, I already knew who it was. That was the second time Sonic saved my skin within an hour. I owe him several at this point…

"You okay there, buddy?" he asked, pulling back onto my feet. His brow furrowed in concern.

"Yeah, thanks for that Sonic. I dunno what happened out there, I-!"

Sonic held up a hand, cutting me off. "Don't worry about that. We gotta trash this bucket o' bolts before it levels the forest!"

I nodded in response, glad that he didn't seem too upset about me zoning out there. I could tell in his voice he was a bit shaken by the event, however.

Sonic ran at the robot, spindashing it over and over again. The robot didn't seem to budge, however. This one's casing seemed to be a lot more durable than all the others. There must be a way to beat it. A weak point somewhere that-!

" _TRRRRRR!"_

A orange blur swung down from the treetops. It didn't take long to figure out who it was.

"Sticks!" I shouted, glad to see another ally on the field.

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Sticks bellowed at Sonic- who was still trying to beat the robot on his own. She ignored me completely…

Once Sonic had distanced himself from the robot, Sticks took out her boomerang and threw it at the robot. The boomerang flew with expert aim- hitting the robot square in the eye. Ah, yes. That would be a logical weak spot, wouldn't it?

"Sonic!" Sticks yelled, turning to face the hedgehog in question.

"On it!" Sonic replied, curling into a ball and spindashing into the cavity where the robot's eye used to be. Sonic cut through the robot's head like a knife through butter. The robot sparked slightly before collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

"Great job guys! That's all of them!" Sonic congratulated from across the field. I grinned sheepishly at this. He did almost all the work and yet he still gives us part of the credit. He sure has changed since we first met…

"All of them?! This is just the beginning of them!" Sticks exclaimed in a panicked voice. "This is just the tip of the iceberg! Mark my words, there will be thousands more where these came from! THE ROBO-APOCALYPSE IS UPON US!" Sticks waved her hands around in the air as if illustrating her point. She looked downright insane- which, to be fair, she might just be.

Sticks began rummaging through the scrap piles, muttering something about "learning their secrets." I was considering joining her, seeing as I still hadn't found a proper replacement weapon for my bombs yet. Or maybe I could find some parts to make new ones!

The sound of Sonic clearing his throat disrupted my thoughts before I could begin searching. I glanced at him to see he was pointing at Sticks. Even from across the field I could tell he was mouthing something. I trotted over to him.

"What's up?"

"Tell her."

"Tell her what, now?" I asked. This conversation felt very familiar.

"About Amy. You said you would, remember?"

I let out a groan, I'd forgotten all about that deal. I cast a nervous glance to Sticks. How would she take the news?

"Hey, you okay? Ya'know, if it really makes you uncomfortable to do this I can-"

"No, Sonic, it's okay, I'll do it. I said I would, right?" I responded with a nervous grin.

"Well, if you're sure."

"Positive! After all, she wouldn't hurt a friend right?"

" _NYA!"_ Sonic and I looked up to see Sticks violently throwing around the top half of a robot. It seems that one of the robots wasn't completely "dead" just yet, but Sticks throwing it around and stomping on it was sure to put it out of commision soon.

Though seeing her act so violent didn't do anything to calm my nerves. Nevertheless, I approached her.

...With caution, of course.

"And stay down!" Sticks commanded the now flattened robot torso.

"Uhm… Sticks? I've got some bad news"

"What is it, Tails?! Has the second wave of robots come? Did Eggman destroy the village? HAVE THE SKINKS STOLEN THE PEANUT BUTTER?!"

"Uuuuhhhh… no… none of those things. It's about Amy, she-"

"Is _**AMY**_ stealing peanut butter?! She should _KNOW_ better!"

"NO! Amy was kidnapped by a snake-guy named Lyric! She was investigating some ruins in the forest and the snake took her off-guard!" I explained frantically, a tad frustrated that she wasn't letting me speak.

"Oh, well that's not so bad."

"Wai- _ **WHAT?!**_ "

"Yeah, snakes don't get power from peanut butter. They also don't have arms, so they can't really do much."

"WHAT IS WITH YOU AND PEANUT BUTTER?! THIS IS SERIOUS!"

"I know! So are skinks. They always mess with my stuff and steal my-"

"-Peanut butter, I get it. Can we just focus on the fact that Amy's in trouble, please?"

"I wouldn't worry about her, she's a strong lady, she can take on a snake OR a skink. Unless…" Sticks trailed off, thinking to herself. Her eyes scanned the field, as if looking for something. Her eyes seemed to lock onto the scrap of the larger robot she helped take down.

"Hey, what's that?" she wondered aloud, jogging over to the pile. Sonic and I followed her, curious as to what she saw. She sifted through the heap until she found a pink colored crystal among the parts. I let off a beautiful glow, unlike any crystal I'd ever seen before.

"Hey, that sorta looks like those crystals the other robots had," Sonic noted.

I cast a quizzical look at him, "The other robots had crystals, too?"

"Yeah, I guess you were too high up to notice them. They had little green crystals powering them but that one," Sonic pointed to the pink crystal in Sticks' hand, "is a lot brighter than the others were. I wonder if that means it was more powerful…"

"It's singing…" Sticks mumbled, her grip on the crystal tightened.

Sonic and I both looked at Sticks with confused expressions. Before we could ask what she meant, she stood up and started walking away.

"Let's hurry to those ruins. I don't like this one bit," Sticks spoke, her voice now serious and laced with worry. It seemed as if all her confidence in Amy's ability to best Lyric had dissolved completely.

Sonic nodded in agreement, taking off in the direction of the ruins with Sticks following closely behind. I hung back a moment, taking in the scene once more and thinking over Sticks' behavior towards that crystal. I tried not to think too hard about it as I flew off after my teammates, but it was hard to ignore the sickly feeling that was growing in the pit of my stomach.

 **First shard discovered! You may notice that Lyric obviously chose to power his robot despite seeing that Amy's crystal was unstable. I'm not sure if I'll cover it in a future chapter, so I'll just explain it here: Lyric's using the crystals to lead Sonic and Co. to him. Putting them in the robots makes it more obvious than randomly hiding them across the island. That being said, the power of Amy's crystal is still enough to power a robot just fine, it's just the power level of the robot will fluctuate depending on the state the crystal is currently in.**

 **Also, just so we're clear, Sonic is being a goof to keep everyone's spirits up. He's not goofing off because he doesn't think the situation is serious or anything, but he knows that if he's negative the team won't function well. So he's trying to lighten the mood. Not sure how well I wrote that.**

 **I think that does it for this chapter. I'll try to get the next one out sooner! No promises though.**


	4. Rendezvous

**Wow, I'm really bad at updating. Sorry 'bout the long wait guys. My motivation's kind of… fickle? I guess? I'm just really bad at making myself write and as such this story's been collecting dust. It's been so long, I had to reread my story to figure out where I was going with this.**

 **Clearly I'm a good writer.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter. Sorry again for the long wait.**

-Nighttime - Jungle Edge -Sonic's POV-

Tails, Sticks, and I had been running through the jungle for several hours on end. Normally, I'd be at my destination in the blink of an eye, but since I had the other two with me, I needed to go at their pace- as much as it pained me to do so. I had offered to pull them along behind me, but Tails shot down the idea as soon as I'd brought it up.

"I'd rather not get my shoulder dislocated today," Tails commented with a hint of sarcasm.

"Some other time, then?" I joked in response, earning a chuckle from Tails.

I glanced over at Sticks. She was being awfully quiet. It was so unlike her, normally she'd be going on about some government conspiracy or something, but she hadn't said a word since she found that strange, pink crystal.

Not that I blamed her. I, too was getting odd vibes from the thing. I was sure Lyric had something to do with it, since, you know… it was from his robot.

A yawn broke me out of my thoughts. A quick glance next to me revealed a tired Tails, barely hovering above the ground. Poor guy looks exhausted, it's a wonder he has enough strength to keep flying.

I dug my heels into the ground, screeching to a stop. "Let's wait here until morning. We'll be able to find Amy better if we've had some rest."

Tails merely nodded sleepily, hovering over a soft patch of grass and passing out almost instantly after landing on it. Sticks, on the other hand, perched herself on a large, nearby rock. She was holding up the crystal, looking at the moon through it. I walked up to her, curious as to what exactly she was doing with it.

"You should rest too, ya'know."

Sticks stared at me for a while, then looked back at the moon.

"Uhm… have you discovered anything about the crystal?" I asked, trying to get any sort of response out of the badger. Her silence was beginning to worry me.

She didn't even look at me this time.

I let out a huff and walked towards a tree, hoping this weirdness would blow over in the morning. Not very likely, since it was Sticks, but I could hope, right?

I leaned back against the tree trunk, arms behind my head. I drifted off to sleep, hoping tomorrow would be better luck for all of us.

-Dawn - Jungle Edge - Sonic's POV-

I was jolted awake by someone shaking my shoulder. With a groan, I cracked my eyes open to see and orange blur looming over me.

"Come on, wake up!" a familiar scratchy, voice called.

I blinked the sleep out of my eyes as best I could. A quick glance at the horizon told me it was early. Too early. I cast a glare at Sticks.

"Don't gimme that look, gotta get moving before the next wave comes!"

"Next wave of what?"

"The next wave of KILLER ROBOTS, you BUFFOON!" she shouted. I heard a tired groan from across the grove. Sounds like she woke up Tails with her shouting.

As much as I hated to admit it, Sticks had the right idea. The longer we spent doing nothing, the greater the potential danger Amy was in. I rose to my feet, stretching. Once I'd woken up for the most part, I walked over to Tails, helping him to his feet.

Sticks, who had scurried off after waking me up, dashed over to us and shoved a couple tropical fruits into our hands.

"You can eat as we go," Sticks stated, suddenly commanding us like she was the leader. "We gotta keep moving! Tails! Which way does the map point?"

The groggy fox pulled out the tablet and flicked it open. "We shtill have a widdle waish ta goh in taht direchshon," Tails responded with his mouth full of fruit, pointing behind Sticks.

Tails swallowed, "That is, until we exit the jungle. After that, we need to pass through the valley. The forest with the ruins Amy was exploring should be on the other side."

"Augh, we still have that far to go?!" I exclaimed. Naturally it wouldn't be far at all if I was alone, but, again, I had my friends to look out for. "You sure you don't want me to just run you guys over there? It'd be so much quicker!"

"I know, Sonic, but I also know the I like my arms being attached to my body. So, no, I won't take you up on that offer." Tails finished off his fruit before studying the map some more. "Besides, we've all rested now, we should be able to travel faster now."

"NYAAAA! Enough stallin'!" Sticks screeched from her rock. "We're wastin' time! Look! The sun's already up!"

In truth, the sun was still half below the horizon, but Sticks had a point. We've spent too much time here.

"You ready Tails?"

A sharp nod was the only response from the fox. With that, the three of us made a break for the valley. With our speed, we should be there within the hour.

-Early Morning - Valley - Sonic's POV-

It took a little longer than I'd hoped, but we made it to the mouth of the valley. Tails says the signal on Amy's location is still strong, but Tails seems to be bothered by something.

"Whatsa matter, buddy?"

"Well, nothing really. It's just…"

"Just…?"

"Amy's signal hasn't moved since last night."

"That's… good, right?"

"Maybe, but… what if finding the tablet is a dead end? What if Lyric didn't take it with him? What if we're just wasting our time?"

"Hey," I spoke, getting his attention. I offered him a smile, "Even if that is true, even if she's not there, I'm sure we'll be able to find some clue to her whereabouts. Trust me, we won't be wasting our time."

Tails' mood seemed to be lifted at this. He turned back to the map, making sure we stayed on course.

It wasn't long until Sticks stopped us, turning slowly in a circle. Curious, I surveyed the area as well. By now I know I'm not as tuned into my surroundings as Sticks is, but even I could tell why she stopped us. We were surrounded, no doubt by more of those weird robots.

Heck, even Tails could tell we were about to be attacked. He slowly crouched to the ground, pulling out some of the tech he grabbed from the last wave from his pouch. Looks like he made a blaster out of the scrap. He hid behind a boulder, probably hoping to pick off some of the robots from the sidelines while Sticks and I faced them head on.

As soon as Tails got to his hiding spot, a swarm of robots- flying ones- appeared around us. There seemed to be twice as many as last time, but I wasn't worried. After all, this looked like fun!

Sticks and I quickly burst into action, with Sticks throwing her boomerang and with me spinning directly into the robots. I even heard Tails cheering when he managed to destroy one one his own.

As much fun as it was, and as well as we were doing, there didn't seem to be an end to the battle. There were lasers flying everywhere, and as the battle went on, different robots came in from the other side of the valley. We were very much outnumbered and I could tell Sticks was getting tired. Not only that, the robots figured out where Tails was hiding and chased the poor guy out into the open.

This was quickly going from kinda fun to really annoying in record time. I lined myself up and took out five in one spindash. Pretty impressive, I must say, but there were still about forty more.

"I'm not sure if I can pull that off again…" I muttered to myself.

Nevertheless, I tried again, only getting two this time. I started rolling up for another one when I heard a voice cry out from the cliffside.

"HAAAAAAAAAH!"

A red blur dove right on top of one of the larger robots, completely obliterating it. A tall, red echidna stood up from the wreckage, grinning proudly.

"Knuckles?!" I exclaimed, surprised, but happy to see the familiar face.

"Huh?" he let looked around in confusion before seeing me. Apparently he didn't see us here when he came diving down. "Oh, hey, Sonic! Is this a great morning workout or what?!"

"Yeah, it is, actually." A laser shot into the ground a few feet away from me. "Robots have terrible aim though." I mean, come on! I'm standing here and they still haven't shot me once.

...Knock on wood...

"Heh, yeah, they are kinda dumb," Knuckles chuckled, punching a robot in the eye when it got close to him.

There were a couple things I wanted to comment on about his response, but I decided to let it slide for now. With Knuckles helping us, we'll be able to finish off these idiot robots in no time!

It wasn't long before the four of us were surrounded by a multitude of broken robots. They practically filled the valley floor. I frowned at the sight, we'll have to remember to do something about this mess once Amy's safe.

Sticks began frantically digging through the wreckage like she did last time. Tails followed suit, apparently his makeshift blaster was out of commission and needed replacing. Again. I turned to Knuckles, figuring now was as good a time as any to ask him some questions and fill him in on the situation.

"So, Knux, what're you doin' all the way out here? Don't you usually stay near the Unnamed Village?"*

Knuckles scratched his head, thinking. "Ya'know… I can't remember. I was just hangin' 'round here and woke up to find a buncha robots this morning."

I looked at him in surprise, "Have you been fighting robots all morning?"

"Heh, yeah. I'm just that awesome." Knuckles turned his attention to me again, "Why are you guys here?"

"Oh, that. Well, to put it short, Amy's been kidnapped by a snake, and-"

"OH NO!" Knuckles shouted.

"I-it's okay, Knuckles. Tails has a map and we're on our way to the ruins. We're gonna find her don't-"

"No no no no no, that's not it. That's the reason!"

"...What?"

"The reason! The reason I was here! I was supposed to meet Amy at the ruins yesterday to help with her nerd stuff, but… I guess I got lost."

Part of me wondered if anything would've changed if Knuckles had met with Amy as planned. Would Amy have been kidnapped if Knuckles was there to help? Would they both have gotten captured? I guess it doesn't matter now. At least we had one more teammate to help us look. Heck, maybe he's seen something we could use to find Amy!

...Maybe.

"Hey, Knux, have you seen anything odd either this morning or yesterday? Anything at all?"

"Hmm… I saw a really big, really shiny beetle…"

"I think those are normal around here, Knux."

"Really? Hmm… let me see…" Knuckles thought long and hard about the question. Really, really hard.

"I-it's okay, no need to hurt you-"

"OOO! I got it!" Wow, I was getting cut off a lot today.

Knuckles pulled a bright, pink crystal from his quills. How it stayed in there, I'll never know, but what I did know was that the crystal he held looked just like the one Sticks found last night.

As if on cue, the badger practically teleported over to us and snatched it out of Knuckles' hand.

"Hey! That's mine! I got it from a robot!"

"That one came from a robot, too?" I asked.

"Yeah, a really big one. Not that it was any match for me!" Knuckles responded, his ego swelling as he made that comment. Geez, this guy makes me look humble sometimes…

I turned to Sticks to see she was holding out both crystals in front of her. It looked like she was comparing them. I could tell they were different shapes and that the one Knuckles had found was a little smaller. That was it, that's all the differences I could see. Sticks, however, must've found something disturbing about the crystals. She stared at them wide-eyed and on top of that, she looked really pale.

"Are you okay Sticks?" Tails walked up, beating me to the question. "You don't look so good…"

What Sticks said next was barely above a whisper, but I think she said, "they're synced."

"What?"

Sticks, instead of answering, ran ahead. Knowing we weren't going to get a straight answer from the badger anytime soon, I turned to Tails.

"How much further, buddy?"

"Oh, um…" Tails pulled out the map. "Looks like the ruins are approximately seven miles away."

I nodded, "Not much further then, huh?" I turned to Knuckles. "You coming with us?"

"You bet! I wanna beat up some more robots!" His expression softened slightly, "That and…"

He never said it, but I could tell he felt bad about what happened to Amy. Not that I could blame him, I'd probably feel the same way if I were him. I didn't blame him for her capture or anything, but I could tell he felt a little guilty.

Without another word, the three of us broke off into a run, quickly catching up to Sticks and making our way to the ruins.

-Noon - Crystalli Ruins - Third Person POV-

The four heroes arrived in the ruins with the sun positioned directly overhead. Once again the trip had taken longer than Sonic would have liked, but at the same time he was glad he was here with his friends. Even if he didn't admit it.

Walking around the ruins, the hedgehog came upon a series of arches. They looked familiar somehow. After walking further, the hedgehog found an area that was far more damaged than the rest.

Despite the whole city being in ruins, this particular section Sonic stood in was still pretty well intact save for the area directly in front of him.

Sonic stiffened as realization flooded over him. He knew exactly where he was. This was where Amy had called him before Lyric dragged her off to who-knows-where. Sonic suppressed a growl, knowing being angry wouldn't help him at the moment.

The hedgehog looked around for any sort of clues that either Lyric or Amy may have left behind in the struggle. There were some indents in the paving stones, but that's all that he could find.

"Sonic! Over here!"

Sonic turned his body towards the voice. He couldn't see the one calling him, but he knew it was Tails. Sonic ran to where the fox stood to find an old stone doorway going into the side of the mountain.

"Where does this go?" Sonic asked.

Tails shook his head, "Not sure, but Sticks went in not to long ago, and the map signal's even stronger in there."

That was all Sonic needed to hear. Using his communicator as a light source, the hedgehog dashed into the depths of the tunnel. He stopped short when a chill came over him. This whole place was giving him bad vibes.

Looking ahead, Sonic could see Sticks standing at an intersection of sorts.

"Hey, Sticks! What's up?"

"I saw many possible outcomes of letting him stay with us, work with us," Sticks spoke in a monotone voice. Her eyes were glazed over, gazing down the corridor on her left.

Sonic cocked his head in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Nearly all of them were negative. I should've know better," Sticks continued, as if not even hearing Sonic speak. "But I held on to the slim chance that something good would happen. And now…"

Sonic stared at the orange badger, trying to decipher what she was talking about. "And now what?"

Sticks blinked twice, as if coming out of a trance. She looked back at the crystals and then to the corridor in front of her. "Now... we go this way!" Sticks exclaimed, dashing down hall.

"Wait, Sticks! Ugh… what is up with her? She's acting weirder than normal lately." Sonic began to follow her, but a sudden chill stopped him again. He felt compelled to look to his right. He couldn't see much, but he could've sworn he saw a figure standing at the end of the hall. Sonic rubbed his eyes and looked back at the hallway. Nothing. The hedgehog shook his head and dismissed it as his imagination.

" _I trust your abilities."_

"AHH!" Sonic jumped back in fright. He KNEW he heard something coming from that corridor! Before he could think on it more, footsteps approached him from behind.

"Sonic! Are you okay! We heard yelling!" Tails shouted, concern for his brother evident in his voice.

"More like girly screaming! What's wrong, Sonic? Scaaaared?" Knuckles jeered, happy to take any moment he could to poke fun at his friendly rival.

Sonic looked back down the corridor, not sure what to think anymore. "It was nothing. Let's go, we need to catch up with Sticks."

The other two, though not convinced that it was "nothing," followed Sonic down the hall Sticks was no doubt already at the end of.

The three males arrived in a large room that seemed to have some old tech scattered about it. One piece of tech, a rather large piece, stood at the other side of the room. It was utterly trashed, no one could tell what it was, but that didn't stop a certain fox from investigating it anyway.

Knuckles busied himself by moving large robot pieces out of the way, taking the especially mangled pieces to Tails, thinking they were important clues. Tails dismissed them as scrap, but appreciated Knuckles' enthusiasm nonetheless.

It occurred to Sonic that Sticks should have beaten them to this room and began to look for her. Sure enough, he found her kneeling in front of a console on the right side of the room, her crystals spread out in front of her. Sonic nearly dismissed the sight until he noticed that there were three now rather than two.

"Whoa! You found another one?" Sonic asked in amazement.

Sticks nodded. "It was up there," She pointed to a table identical to the one Sonic and the gang had used to find this place.

Amy's tablet… Sonic thought. He snatched the battered device from off the top of the console and tried to get it working. He had no luck.

Sonic wasn't one to give up, however. He turned around and headed to Tails.

"Tails! I found Amy's tablet, can you fix it? It might tell us something!"

The kit frowned, taking the tablet in his hands and examining it. "I think so… It was still able to send a signal to find this place, so it must still work. I'll probably have better luck with this than THAT mess," Tails concluded, gesturing at the broken down machine in front of them.

"What is it?"

"Can't tell. It's far too damaged to salvage any information from it."

"Sonic…" a quiet, raspy voice called from behind the hedgehog. Sonic turned to see Sticks approaching him, an uneasy look upon her features.

"Sticks? What's wrong?"

"Everything," the badger responded. "Nothing is right anymore."

 ***Yes, that's seriously what the village is called. In the cartoon, anyway.**

 **Again, sorry if Sticks seems OoC, she's still new to me and, in my defense, she'd not quite herself at the moment. Curious to see if anyone can figure it out. I also feel like I may be making Tails too much of a worry wart? I'm not sure.**

 **Also, Knuckles is here! Gonna try to balance his character so that he resembles Boom!Knuckles, but isn't a total idiot.**

 **Sorry once again for taking so long. I hope it doesn't take this long for next chapter. Also sorry for any mistakes. I only meant to write a little bit and then this whole chapter happened. Heck, it was SUPPOSED to be short, but, nope. It's a long one. See ya… whenever next chapter happens. It's gonna be… different.**


	5. Guidence

**Yo. Change of plans. This chapter was GOING to be different, but in my hiatus I've decided to postpone that plot point a little longer.**

 **So here it is, chapter five. Finally. Enjoy.**

-Noon - Crystalli Catacombs - Sonic's POV-

I looked down at the badger in surprise. It was unlike Sticks to act this way. Usually she's screaming in everyone's ears about her conspiracies, but recently she's been acting off. Now was no exception. In fact, I'd say she's acting even more strange.

"What do you mean?"

Sticks took in a shaky breath, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. Her eyes darted about the room, as if she was expecting something to jump out at her. "I don't know yet, but… I don't like this place.

"I don't think any of us like it here, Sticks."

"I just feel like something horrible happened here…"

"Like what?"

There was a long pause in the conversation. Sticks just fixed her eyes on the ground, but I got the feeling she'd zoned out again.

I waved my hand in front of her face, "Hey, Sticks! You there?" She blinked a couple times before looking up at me again. "Are you alright? You've been acting really weird ever since this whole mess started."

Sticks shook her head, "I'm not the one you should be worrying about."

My blood ran cold after hearing that statement. "What… what do you mean by that?" I asked, but I wasn't sure I wanted the answer.

Sticks opened her mouth to answer but-

"-Hey, Sonic! Sticks!" Tails called from the other side of the room. He and Knuckles were standing by the door, waiting for us. "We better get going!"

"Right... let's go!" I exclaimed running past them.

Part of me regretted not hearing what Sticks had to say, though as I ran past Tails and Knuckles, I heard something. Something Sticks had mumbled just after I ran off.

"I hope I'm wrong about this…"

-Afternoon - Crystalli Ruins Outskirts - Third Person-

"Alright, buddy, where to next?" Sonic turned to face Tails, walking backwards. Even though the team was quite a ways away from the catacombs, it still felt like it's heavy atmosphere was hanging over the hedgehog. He wanted to be as far from it as possible.

"Okay, so-" Tails hesitated a bit before continuing- "Obviously I can't track Amy herself any further, since, well, we found her tablet already." Tails held up the device to emphasise his point. "But, I was able to recover her notes on the ruins. Maybe there's a clue in here somewhere…"

"Sooo… what you're saying is we still don't have a lead on where to go."

"Uh…" Tails shuffled his feet awkwardly, "m-maybe…"

The rest of the group let out a groan as if on cue.

"HEY! You try tracking someone down with no clues! It's hard, okay?!"

"Ugh, I know, I know. Sorry, Tails," Sonic tried to calm Tails down, to calm himself down. The stress of the situation was beginning to wear on him. "I guess we just figured when you called us away you'd found something," Sonic explained. The other two nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I understand. I just needed to get out of there, it was too cold and eerie to think straight. But maybe now that we're out, I can find some clues."

"Like what? It's not like Amy knew she was gonna be kidnapped that morning!" Knuckles exclaimed. "I'm preeetty sure she would've let me know she had that planned." Knuckles crossed his arms, seemingly proud of himself for coming up with that remark. He did have a point, but his logic was still somewhat flawed in the end.

"Tch! You four have been wandering around for HOW long and you STILL can't figure out where to go? Pathetic," a deep voice bellowed from behind a column at the edge of the ruins. No one needed to see the owner to know who it was.

"Shadow," Sonic turned towards the voice. "What are you doing here?"

Shadow stepped out from behind the pillar, arms crossed over his chest. He scowled at the team- mostly Sonic. "I could ask you fools the same thing."

"What do you mean?" Tails questioned.

"You all have the tools you need to move forward, and yet you still mill about here. Do you really not see the obvious solution?"

"Uuuuuh…" Knuckles trailed off, trying to think of an answer.

"NYA! Why are we listening to this guy?" Sticks cried, getting back into character. "He's probably working with Lyric! Trying to throw us off the trail! We can't trust him."

"Now what would I gain from working with an old, decaying reptile?" Shadow asked, irritated by Sticks' outburst.

Sticks merely grumbled in response.

"Wait a minute, how do YOU know Lyric?" Tails inquired. "WE didn't tell you anything about what happened." Sticks, Knux, and Sonic stared at Tails, the realization finally sinking in.

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Sticks exclaimed. "How can you know who we're talkin' about, if you aren't working with him?"

"Unless… you ARE Lyric!" Knuckles pointed an accusing finger in Shadow's direction.

Shadow stared long and hard at Knuckles, probably trying to figure out if he was joking. Having figured out Knuckles was being serious, Shadow raised a hand to his face. "Oh, sweet Chaos…"

"He didn't deny it, I think I'm onto something, guys!" Knuckles loudly whispered.

"He's hiding something for sure," Sticks responded in an equally hushed, yet obnoxious manner.

"OR," Shadow bellowed, having heard everything. He dropped his hand to his side. "Maybe I just happened to have seen him with my own eyes."

"So you ARE working with him!"

"Again, for what purpose would I do that?"

"Maybe… maybe it's mind control! YEAH! Lyric found ya and-"

"Mind control?! Me?! HA!" Shadow let out a hearty laugh. "You _CLEARLY_ don't know who you're talking to, wild child."

"Hey," Sonic called his attention. "You wanna tell us why you're here, or are you just gonna waste more of our time?"

"Well, if your… 'friends' didn't make such idiotic accusations, we BOTH could have been on our way by now."

Sonic growled, frustrated with his attitude. Then something hit him. Sonic's frustrated expression shifted to one of confusion. "Why are you helping us?"

"Why do you not look directly into the sun?"

"Wha-?"

"-Because it's painful to watch." Shadow interjected before Sonic could answer. "I've been watching you four ever since you entered these ruins. You have something that can help you, yet you're still looking for another answer."

"Well, what is it?!" Knuckles demanded.

"You accuse me of being on Lyric's side and then ask me for the answer?"

"Well, isn't that why you started talking to us in the first place?"

"It WAS, but then I remembered that I don't like you." Shadow started walking away. "You have the tools you need. Use them." After that last statement, he skated away.

Once Shadow was out of sight, Sonic turned to Tails. The fox was sitting on the ground, all his tech and tools spread out in front of him. He held his head in his hands, searching for the answer. Sonic sat down next to him, giving everything a good look-over as well.

"Do you see anything?" Sonic asked.

"Not yet, nothing is jumping out at me, anyway." Tails mumbled in response.

Knuckles feel to his knees on the other side of Tails, picking up one of the two tablets. "Maybe this is it?"

Tails shook his head, "No, Knuckles. We tried that already."

"Oh," Knuckles looked defeated at that remark. A look of determination quickly replaced defeat however and he looked harder at the objects on the ground.

"I don't get why we take anything he says seriously," Sticks ranted. She sat a little ways away on a rock tracing the facets on one of her crystals. "He's OBVIOUSLY a government agent."

"OOO!" Knuckles pointed at Sticks before running over to her and snatching one of the crystals from off the rock and balancing it on top of the tablet screen. "Maybe we need to use the crystal to make the tablet stronger!"

"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!" Sticks shrieked.

"No, Knuckles, I don't th-" Tails had begun to dismiss the idea before his eyes widened. He threw his hands up to his face. "OH MY GOSH. HOW DID I NOT SEE IT!"

"What?! See what?" Sonic asked, surprised by Tails' outburst.

"The crystals!" Tails ran over to Knuckles, holding out his hand. "May I?" Knuckles gave Tails the crystal, which tails held up in the sunlight. "Think about it, I don't think I've ever seen a crystal like this before. And we only started finding them when this whole Lyric mess started." Tails lowered the crystal, looking up at his comrades. "Since we've only found them in those robots- which are clearly not Eggman's, if you remember- and in the ruins, we can assume that this is a crystal only Lyric knows about and uses as a power source!"

Sonic and Knuckles nodded. "That makes sense," Sonic responded.

"Hrmmm… I guess…" Sticks didn't seem completely convinced.

"So, with that in mind," Tails paced in front of the team, turning the crystal over in his hand. "If I can build a device to track these crystals, eventually we'll find Lyric."

"Eventually?!" Sonic exclaimed. "Why _eventually_?"

"Well, Lyric must have a lot of robots powered with these things. There may also be decoys for all we know."

Sonic huffed in annoyance before shaking off the feeling. "Well, it's a start at least."

"And a lead. Period." Tails nodded.

"Right, right, how long until you can build a locator?"

"With your permission, I should be able to convert your tablet into a crystal tracker in less than an hour."

"Do it."

-Afternoon - Crystalli Ruins Outskirts - Shadow POV-

The fox made a radar. Finally. I was beginning to question if he was really a genius after all. Then again, he only figured it out thanks to that red moron.

How pathetic.

To make matters worse, they still have yet to discover just what the crystals are- what Lyric has done. At this rate they'll never save her.

Maybe I should take matters into my own hands? No, I don't think I should. What Lyric does matters not to me. It's not like that girl means anything to me anyway.

And yet, part of me hates to see her succumb to that fate. I could care less what happens to her once she's back, but something about being used as a weapon, treated like you aren't real- like you don't have a choice in the matter…

It makes me sick.

It makes me sicker to see her "friends" not recognise her plight. They won't save her, they don't even know how.

I shouldn't have let Lyric get away, I overestimated their abilities.

Now I must fix that mistake.

 **This one is a bit shorter than I would've liked, but I feel like if I try to do too much with this, I'll hit a block again and then I may never finish.**

 **Hopefully the introduction of Shadow makes up for it, I know how much the fans love 'im. I'm trying to give him a more fleshed out personality than he had in Boom, but it's hard to tell if I made an improvement. He's not supposed to have feelings for Amy by the way, he just dislikes what's been done to her. My version of Shadow despises people manipulating others more than anything.**

 **I plan to eventually go back to previous chapters and fix some errors. Whether that happens sooner or later is undecided.**

 **Anyway, hope this chapter was enjoyable.**


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